At Ooi Nuclear Power Plant, following Reactor 3 on July 9, Reactor 4 reached the full operation at 1AM on July 25 with officials including Senior Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Makino attending in the central control room.

４号機では、その後、２５日朝５時半ごろ、原子炉内の１次冷却水の温度を監視する温度計の１つで警報が作動しました。

In Reactor 4 however, an alarm was triggered at 5:30AM on July 25. It was one of the thermometers that triggered the alarm which are used to monitor the temperature of the primary coolant inside the reactor.

This thermometer monitors the temperature of the primary coolant, and if the temperature reaches 336 degrees Celsius it sets off an alarm. In the morning of July 25, this temperature was momentarily exceeded [according to KEPCO].

The other thermometers monitoring the primary coolant show normal temperatures, and there is no abnormal data such as the pressure of the reactor. KEPCO believes the alarm at the thermometer was due to a temporary rise in temperature due to water flow, and says the company continues to monitor the situation but without lowering the output.

With Reactors 3 and 4 at Ooi Nuclear Power Plant, which have the largest output capacities among the reactors operated by KEPCO, in full operation, the national government will remove the numerical targets for power saving in the areas served by Hokuriku Electric, Chubu Electric, and Chugoku Electric [who were required to deliver power to KEPCO in case of power shortage in KEPCO area].

Ooi's Reactors 3 and 4 are pressurized-water reactors.

By the way, the organizers who have been organizing the Friday protest at the Prime Minister's Official Residence in Tokyo says they are not doing it this week in order to focus their effort on the big July 29 event to surround the National Diet Building. They don't seem particularly worried about Ooi Nuke Plant any more, and one of the organizers continues to trash "the old left" who either come to the protest with labor union flags or argue with the police.

(I heard rumors that people are doing the "Kantei (PM Official Residence) demo" on Friday anyway. That would be interesting...)

I have a problem I hope someone may be able to help with. On Tuesday afternoon there was a downpour of rain in Kyoto. Usually the Kyoto reading is 0.12~0.2 microsevierates per hour between 5cm and a metre.But on 24th July, I got readings at the time of rain at up to 0.6561μSv per hour as an average of readings over 3 minutes. Max reading was 0.808μSv.Can anybody suggest why(sunspot, Fukushima activity, etc), why such a radical change? Did they vent a reactor in Ohi, Tsuruga or Obama???

@anon 9:17AM, probably natural radiation. There was a "scare" last year and earlier this year when some people posted the reading of rain or snow that seemed to show huge spikes in iodine and cesium. They turned out to be nuclides that are present in rain/snow (I remember one of them is radioactive lead), and they decayed very quickly (within 24 hours).

How long is it going to be before one of the operators decides to turn off the annoying alarms and just totally go with their gut feeling on how the reactor is operating? This is like ignoring the "check engine" light on you car and hoping it doesn't breakdown.

Regarding the Friday protests, it is essential that these continue. With the nuclear news as bad as it has been this week, it is even more important this week.

Further, the prior efforts seem finally to have put the politicians on the run. We should pursue them and finish them off. We should not stand down while they regroup. It would be a huge mistake to relieve the pressure on the enemy at this time.

Organizer is making a HUGE mistake. If the usual organizer is not there, then someone else is going to take over. Who? What might this new organizer do that will affect the reputation of the entire crowd that has gathered each week?

In any case, with this development, it is more important than ever that everyone come out for this week's Friday 6PM demonstration.

About my coverage of Japan Earthquake of March 11

I am Japanese, and I not only read Japanese news sources for information on earthquake and the Fukushima Nuke Plant but also watch press conferences via the Internet when I can and summarize my findings, adding my observations.

About This Site

Well, this was, until March 11, 2011. Now it is taken over by the events in Japan, first earthquake and tsunami but quickly by the nuke reactor accident. It continues to be a one-person (me) blog, and I haven't even managed to update the sidebars after 5 months... Thanks for coming, spread the word.------------------This is an aggregator site of blogs coming out of SKF (double-short financials ETF) message board at Yahoo.

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